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3 WHICH MEMBER OF THE ANTIBIOTIC CLASS SHOULD WE USE FIRST? SEBASTIAN AMYES Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4SB, Scotland, UK The choice of which antibiotic to use is complicated by the rapid rise in the proportion of resistant strains. Traditional views about the emergence and spread of resistance often are still focussed on the mutation rates and the introduction of mobile DNA elements. Resistance has two components; the development of resistance in real time and the spread of closely-related resistant strains (often clonal) from one patient to another, subsequently leading to the dissemination from one healthcare facility to another. The containment of this latter spread is often an infection control problem rather than a formulary issue. The control of resistance emergence is, however, often directly dependent on the choice antibiotic given. It has been known for some time, that higher doses of antibiotics would prevent the emergence of resistance and that sub-inhibitory concentrations facilitate its appearance. This has been quantified to identify the mutant prevention concentration, which identifies that certain members, often the most active, of a class of antibiotic are more capable at preventing resistance emergence than the rest. This has been shown with quinolones, where less active members of this drug class have been able to select widespread resistance. Examples of this have been the use of nalidixic acid to treat Shigella infection in the developing world, resulting in widespread ciprofloxacin resistance and the emergence of fluoroquinolone resistance in Acinetobacter spp. Similarly, the emergence of vancomycin resistance in Enterococcus spp has been attributed the use of the growth promoter avoparcin, also a glycopeptide. Less obvious examples where less active members of a drug class have been instrumental in resistance emergence, for the drug class as a whole, are seen with the extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) and, more latterly, the carbapenemases. The early emergence of the ESBLs in Klebsiella spp has been correlated with the use of slow-penetrating, and thus less active, cephalosporins, such as ceftazidime. Similarly, there is evidence that the less active carbapenems could select resistance not only to themselves but also to the more active members of this drug class; for example, the introduction of drugs such as ertapenem may select carbapenem-resistant strains, particularly in non-fermenting bacteria, although this drug would not be targeted against them. Often we do not have a choice as to which antibiotic within a drug class we should use. However, when we do have a choice, there may well be a flaw in the adage that, we should start with the less active members first so that the more active ones may be used later. Resistance in a drug class often applies to all members of it but, even if it does not, the success of other members of the drug class may be compromised as resistance to the initial drugs used may be precursors to the rest. Resistance is extremely difficult to eradicate and mostly we are unsuccessful. So attempts should be made to prevent its emergence in the first place. With this in mind, in many cases it would be preferable initially to use the more active members of a drug class in order to suppress the development of resistance, using less active members of the class when the risk of resistance is known to be low. TESTING THE PHENOL DEGRADING ABILITY OF STRAINS ISOLATED FROM ACTIVATED SLUDGE OF INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER JUDIT ANDRÁS 1, ANIKÓ RÁCZ 1, GERGELY SCHEIRICH 1, RÓBERT GORÁL 1,2, KÁROLY MÁRIALIGETI 1,2, TAMÁS FELFÖLDI 1,2 1 Department of Microbiology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary; 2 Cooperative Research Center For Environmental Scienes, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/a, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary Industrial wastewater of a coke-oven plant contains several organic and inorganic pollutants - including aromatic cyclic compounds, thiocyanate, nitrate, ammonium - in concentrations that are toxic to the environment. A laboratory model system was constructed for the biological purification of chemically pre-treated wastewater. Previous studies based on total DNA community analysis showed high diversity of bacteria that may account for the degradation of phenols and thiocyanate. The aim of this study was the experimental testing of the phenol degradation using isolated strains. More than hundred strains were isolated from activated sludge with spread plate technique applying inorganic phenol and thiocyanate containing media. Strains were grouped according to their ARDRA (Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis) patterns and with one or two strains from each group sequence analysis was carried out. The phenol degradation ability of the selected strains was tested in liquid cultures measuring the optical density and the phenol concentration (colorimetric method using 4-amino-antipyrine). Several strains - 3 -

4 (Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Comamonas etc.) proved to be able to remove phenol from the inorganic liquid medium containing phenol as the sole carbon source, some of them even in elevated concentration. DETECTION OF HANTAVIRUSES IN HUNGARIAN SHREW (MAMMALIA: SORICIDAE) SAMPLES TAMÁS BAKONYI 1, JOLANTA KOLODZIEJEK 2, TIBOR CSÖRGŐ 3, GÁBOR RÁCZ 4, EMŐKE FERENCZI 5, FERENC JAKAB 6, NORBERT NOWOTNY 2 1 Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, SzIU, Hungária krt , H-1143 Budapest, Hungary; 2 Clinical Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, A-1210Vienna, Austria; 3 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. sétány 1/A, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary; 4 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA; 5 Department of Virology, National Center for Epidemiology, Gyáli u. 2-6, H-1097 Budapest, Hungary; 6Institute of Biology, University of Pécs, Ifjúság u. 6, H-7624 Pécs, Hungary Hantaviruses are rodent-borne viruses of the Bunyaviridae family. Some of them are important zoonotic agents causing haemorrhagic fevers and renal failures. In central Europe Belgrade-Dobrava and Puumula viruses are the most important human pathogen hanatviruses. Certain wild mouse and vole species are the main reservoirs of them. Shrews (Soricidae) are widespread small insectivorous mammals, which are frequent in the tropical and temperate zones of the Earth. Hantavirus-related antigens were detected several years ago in European shrew species in the USSR and in Yugoslavia; and hantaviruses were isolated from far-eastern shrew samples. Virus isolation attempts from European shrew samples were, however, so far unsuccessful. Recently a novel hantavirus, the Seewis (SWSV) virus was detected by molecular methods in European common shrew (Sorex araneus) samples collected in Switzerland. Phylogenetically, SWSV grouped with other recently identified shrew-borne hantaviruses. In this study shrew samples collected in central European countries were tested for the presence of hantaviruses, using universal hantavirus RT-PCR assays. Samples were obtained from Hungary, between 1997 and Hantavirus nucleic acid was detected in six Sorex araneus specimen. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences revealed clustering of the strains corresponding with their geographic origins. The investigations revealed that the hantavirus infection rate of central European shrews is relatively high. Clinical symptoms and pathological lesions were not recorded; therefore shrews are probable reservoir hosts of these viruses. Because shrew-hantavirus related human infections were not detected so far, the zoonotic potential and possible public health impact of these viruses shall further be investigated. MOLECULAR DIVERSITY OF THE ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI OF JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS IN SEMIARID SANDY GRASSLANDS OF THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN TÍMEA BALÁZS, GÁBOR M. KOVÁCS Department of Plant Anatomy, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University 1117 Budapest, Pázmány Péter stny. 1/c. Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is a mutualistic symbiosis formed by the majority of the terrestrial plants and the members of the fungal phylum Glomeromycota. Although some data about the AM fungi (AMF) of the Carpathian Basin have been published, a comprehensive molecular diversity study of the AMF of natural habitats in the area is missing. The main aim of the work presented here was to study the in planta molecular diversity of AMF colonizing Juniperus communis in semiarid sandy grasslands on the Great Hungarian Plain. Our sampling sites were the grasslands close to Bugac, Fülöpháza and Tatárszentgyörgy. The roots of ten trees were sampled at each sampling site. The samples have been collected three times a year in spring, summer and autumn since the autumn After total DNA extraction from the roots, an approximately 550 bp long part of the SSU region of the nrdna was amplified using the AMF specific NS31-AM1 primer pair. The amplicons were cloned into pgem-t Easy Vector and transformed into JM109 E. coli competent cells. 30 insert containing clones were selected for each sample for subsequent RFLP analysis using AluI, HinfI and TaqI enzymes. Several clones of each RFLP type were sequenced on both strands. After checking the electrophoregrams, the sequences were analysed using appropriate programs (Staden Program Package, ClustalX, MultAlin, Mega4.0, BLAST). More than five hundred clones gained from AMF colonizing Juniperus communis have been screened and more than three hundred have been sequenced up to now. No nrdna sequences of non-glomeromycota fungi was detected. Our results show that the AMF colonizing Juniperus communis on the Great Hungarian Plain belong to at least 10 distinct phylotypes. Majority of these phylotypes clustered into the Glomus GroupAb and GroupAc, but some lineages grouped into the families Gigasporaceae and Diversisporaceae. Some of the sequences formed distinct lineages when sequences of known glomeromycotan taxa had been also included into the phylogenetic analyses. We may assume that those phylotypes represent undiscribed arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

5 The works were supported by the Hungarian Research Found (OTKA D048333, K72776). DEVELOPMENT OF A REAL TIME QUANTITATIVE PCR ASSAY BASED ON PRIMER-PROBE ENERGY TRANSFER FOR THE DETECTION OF PRRSV IN CLINICAL SAMPLES GYULA BALKA 1, ÁKOS HORNYÁK 2, ÁDÁM BÁLINT 3, MIKLÓS RUSVAI 1 Department of Pathology and Forensic Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, István u. 2, H-1078 Budapest, Hungary 1 ; Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, Hungária krt , H-1143 Budapest, Hungary 2 ; Central Agricultural Office, Veterinary Diagnostic Directorate, Tábornok u. 2, H-1149 Budapest, Hungary 3 Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is one of the most rapidly evolving RNA viruses. For the detection of the virus, several molecular diagnostic methods have already been reported, however, one of the most commonly used primer pair is proved to amplify non-prrsv sequences under routine diagnostic laboratory conditions. The other risk factor is the continuously changing genetic material of the virus, therefore, based on the sequence analysis of the emerging new strains, constant update on the molecular techniques is needed. The real time quantitative RT-PCR methods using hydrolising (TaqMan ) probes are very sensitive even to a single mismatch on the probe-target region. The system, we developed is based on FRET: the 3 end labelled probe will attach next to the 5 end labelled reverse primer, and energy will be transferred from the donor electrophore (FAM) to the acceptor (Texas Red) resulting in detectable and measurable light emission in positive cases. The intensity of the light signal depends on the quantity of the template in the mixture. The advantage of this method is that it uses polymerase enzyme that do not have exonuclease activity, thus perfect match is not needed between the probe and the target region. The sensitivity of the assay was measured using the Lelystad European reference strain, the Ingelvac MLV TM North American vaccine strain, and a Belarus strain belonging to the European Subtype 3. Known amounts of target RNA, prepared from all three strains were ten fold diluted from to one copy/µl. The assay was able to detect even the final dilution (one copy) in all three cases. The specificity was controlled using 35 different Hungarian Type 1, and Type 2 strains. To exclude the cross reactivity of the system porcine circovirus type 2, swine influenza virus (H3N2, and H1N1), classical swine fever virus, porcine respiratory corona virus, Aujeszky disease virus, porcine parvovirus, porcine cytomegalovirus positive samples were also tested and resulted negative. The melting point analysis revealed, that increasing number of probe-target mismatches will lead to decrease in the melting point of the product, and the 5 end mutations have less effect in the melting point changes. TICK-BORNE ENCEPHALITIS OUTBREAKS THROUGH RAW MILK CONSUMPTION IN HUNGARY ZSUZSANNA BALOGH 1, EMŐKE FERENCZI 1, 2, KLÁRA SZÉLES 3, WLODZIMIERZ GUT 4, GYÖRGY BERENCSI 1 1 Department of Virology, National Center for Epidemiology, Budapest, Hungary 2 Veterinary Medical Research Institute of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary 3 National Public Health and Medical Officer Service, Western Transdanubian Regional Institute, Department of Epidemiology, Győr, Hungary 4 Department of Virology, National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland The average yearly number of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) cases in Hungary was around 280 until 1997 when the number of cases dropped and remained on a significantly lower level (average ~80/year). The most likely reason for this dramatic decrease seems to be an abiotic factor (since that time hospitals have to pay for the serological tests), but other factors may also play a role. The number of TBE patients in Hungary in 2007 was also low: altogether 62 persons were diagnosed by virological laboratory methods. However, this was the first year when nearly half of the TBE patients acquired alimentary viral infection. Thirty TBE patients were detected having consumed raw goat-milk, without a history of tick-bite in the critical time. The first milk-borne outbreak started in May, with 5 confirmed patients. Serological data of 8 examined goats of the suspect source farm showed that 2 goats underwent the virus infection, but only one was identified with a recent infection. The second outbreak started in August and resulted in 25 TBE patients. From the suspected farm 75 goats were examined for the presence of TBEV antibodies. One animal out of the 4 seropositives suffered recent infection. The largest milk-borne TBE outbreak occurred in Hungary in 1992, with 26 cases, but it did not constitute such high proportion of clinical TBE cases. This suggests that the real number of patients infected through tick-bite was in fact higher in 2007, but remained unknown. The milk-borne outbreaks with high number of patients in a short time arose the interest of clinicians, epidemiologists, veterinarians and the media as well, and consequently were investigated extensively. Our experiences show that more attention should be paid to this alimentary route of infection, especially because - 5 -

6 of the increasing popularity of natural foods including raw goat milk in Europe. EBV LATENCY SPECIFIC EXPRESSION OF LAMIN A/C IN HUMAN LYMPHOID CELL LINES FERENC BÁNÁTI 1, ANITA KOROKNAI 1, ZSOLT RUZSICS 2, FREDERICK LEMNITZER 2, JÁNOS MINÁROVITS 1 National Center for Epidemiology, Microbiological Research Group, Pihenő u. 1. H-1529, Budapest, Hungary; 1 Max von Pettenkofer- Institute, Ludwig Maximilians-University Munich, Munich 80337, Germany. Lamin A/C proteins are members of the nuclear lamina forming a supporting meshwork in the nuclear periphery. Lamin A and its truncated form, lamin C contribute to gene regulation, RNA-splicing and delivery of complexes to their place of function, i.e. they serve as a platform for molecular processes. Lamin A/C proteins are usually not expressed in cells of hematopoietic origin. In our experiment we used the method of Western Blotting to examine the protein level of lamin A and C in B-cell lines harbouring Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genomes of different latency types. We found that in cell lines with the most restricted EBV latency (latency I) lamin A/C were hardly detectable. In contrary, in lymphoblastoid cell lines (latency III) and in the NPC cell line C666-1 (latency II), lamin A/C were highly expressed. Further studies are in progress to elucidate the potential role of latent EBV products in differential lamin A/C expression. PSEUDOMONAS AND OTHER OPPORTUNISTIC PATHOGENS IN HOSPITALS WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS RENÁTA BÁNFI 1, VANDA SZABÓ 2, ZSÓFIA BARNA 1, MIHÁLY KÁDÁR 1, MÁRTA VARGHA 1 1 Department of Water Microbiology, National Institute for Environmental Health; 2 Department of Microbiology, Eötvös Loránd University Nosocomial infection is one of the major risk factors for hospitalized patients. A potential and usually underrated source of infection is the water distribution system. A previous study using molecular techniques has shown the presence of various opportunistic pathogens in drinking water samples from a hospital. Aim of the presence study was (1) to compare the presence of facultative pathogens in 3 hospitals using both culture dependent and molecular techniques, (2) to characterize the isolates of the most frequently detected species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa in detail. Five 10 L samples were collected at each hospital. Samples were concentrated by filtration, and processed by (1) cultivation on selective-differentiating media (2) DNA extraction followed by taxon-specific PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected according to MSZ EN 12780:2003. For characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a total of 30 strains collected from 10 hospitals were used; strains were characterized by BOX-PCR. Presence of most relevant, potentially water-borne nosocomial pathogens was investigated, namely Acinetobacter, Burkholderia, Sphingomonas, Legionella pneumophila, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Colonies with characteristic morphology of the target species were isolated and confirmed by taxon specific PCR. Results showed high frequency of false positive. Taxon specific PCR directly from total community DNA was successful for Legionella, Pseudomonas and Stenotrophomonas. Microbial diversity was highly variable between and within hospitals by both culture dependent and independent techniques. DGGE was successful for 2 of the 3 hospitals. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected one of the most frequently detected species, counts were exceeding 1000 CFU/100 ml in some samples. Isolates were highly diverse according to their BOX-PCR fingerprint. However, identictal patterns were observed for strains of different origin as well, while often more types were isolated from a distribution system. Results suggest that Ps. aeruginosa colonizes tap faucets in high numbers, while in the pipelines the counts remain low. EMERGENCE OF -OMICS AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE CURRENT DATA DELUGE REQUIRE A NEW WAY OF THINKING FROM MICROBIOLOGISTS JÓZSEF BARANYI Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK Technological advances, the -omics technologies and the exponential increase of computing power have generated a dramatic accumulation of microbiology data. Hand in hand with new techniques of data mining, new disciplines such as Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Systems Biology and Predictive Microbiology have - 6 -

7 sprung out of these developments. The sheer data deluge made traditional microbiologists change their attitude towards numerical and computational sciences and spectacular results have been achieved by applying complexity-centred techniques to microbiology problems. The increase in the amount of data has negative effects, too. It is easier to get contradictory results all supported by observations. The INTERPETATION of data sets and induced conclusions has become more important than getting to them. Predictive microbiology serves as an example, how important it is to have rigorous foundations to mathematical / statistical techniques applied to food microbiology problems. This process itself is not unexpected and examples of similar developments can be found in the history of science. What is new, however, is the tangible emerging of COMPLEXITY, in its mathematical sense. Complexity is not the same as complicated-ness. It is at the transition stage between predictability and unpredictability. It is the phenomenon when not only there are many constituents in a system, but the number of links (interactions) between them is also big. We point out in this talk, that the data on interactions in a system is becoming more and more important, which has profound effect on the way we describe and model complex microbiological systems. SCREENING OF HIV AND HEPATITIS MARKERS IN HUNGARIAN PRISONS ERZSÉBET BARCSAY 1, ERZSÉBET RUSVAI 1, ÁGNES DENCS 1, ANDREA HETTMANN 1, ZOLTÁN GYŐRI1, ISTVÁN KÁNTOR 2, MÁRIA TAKÁCS 1 1 National Center for Epidemiology, Division of Virology 2 Schering-Plough Central East AG Nowadays the highest risk groups for hepatitis C (HCV) infection has become the intravenous drug users (IVDU) and prisoners. In Hungary the most imperiled group for HIV infection are homosexuals. IVDU, homosexuality and other risk factors - like tattoo, piercing, promiscuity, alcoholism - as well are present in Hungarian prisons. Prison staff like guards, healthcare worker may also be at greater risk to become infected. We got a chance to screen for HIV and hepatitis markers in jailhouses. The survey was carried out in12 institutes, the participation was voluntary. We tested more than 3500 blood samples for hepatitis B (HBsAg) and C (antihcv) markers and determined HIV Ag/Ab (>3000 prisoners and nerly 500 staff). We used ELISA tests for serological screening and those samples which proved positive for antihcv, we retested by PCR technique. We found tenfold higher antihcv prevalence (4,5%) in prisoners than in the staff (0.4%) which is equal to that of the normal population. The HBsAg prevalence was 1,5% in prisoners. We found an HIV positive case as well. The prevalence of infected people was much lower than it was expected by data in literatures. Maybe the epidemiological situation is better in Hungary or those who thought they were positive, did not participate in this program. The ratio of PCR positivity among the antihcv positive cases was lower than expected, probably because some participants had recieved interferon therapy before. Those who proved to be HCV RNA positive were offered interferon therapy. FINGERPRINTING TECHNIQUES IN THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF LEGIONELLOSIS ZSÓFIA BARNA 1, CSABA BOGNÁR 2, KRISZTINA HORVÁTH 2, MIHÁLY KÁDÁR 1, JUDIT KALÁCSKA 2, JUDIT PÁSZTI 2, ANITA SZAX 1, MÁRTA VARGHA 1 1 National Institute for Environmental Health, 2 National Center of Epidemiology, H-1097 Budapest, Gyáli u Legionellosis is a mandatory notifiable disease in Hungary. However, there is no legislation concerning environmental monitoring or disease control. In 2007, the Nat. Institute for Environmental Health and the Nat. Centre of Epidemiology have published a Guideline on Legionnaire s Disease and its Prevention which regulates the procedure of epidemiological investigation for travel associated and nosocomial cases of legionellosis. Identification of the infective source through comparative fingerprinting of environmental and clinical is indispensable for the prevention of further infections. Since the publication of the Guideline, 2 confirmed nosocomial and one confirmed travel associated case was reported. Epidemiological investigation including environmental survey and sampling was carried out in accordance with the Guideline. Hot and cold drinking water samples were collected at each site. Legionellae were isolated by membrane filtration on GVPN (ISO 11734:2004). Legionella isolates were confirmed and serotyped by latex- and micro-agglutination. Rep-PCR, whole genome PFGE and intact cell MALDI-TOF MS) was used for identification of the potentially epidemiologically relevant environmental strains

8 Case #1 was a fatal confirmed nosocomial case in North-Hungary in Jan Legionella was present in 88% of the hot water and 80% of the cold water samples collected in the hospital (range was and CFU/L, respectively). A total of 34 Legionella isolates were collected, all of which were L. pn. sg 1. Isolates were identical by all of the applied fingerprinting methods. Results suggest that the entire water distribution system was colonized by a single strain. As clinical Legionella isolate was not available in this case, comparison with the environmental strains was not possible. However, the hospital s water system is the most possible source of infection based on high levels of L. pneumophila in the majority of water samples and the fact that the patient was hospitalized during the entire incubation period. Case #2 was reported as a fatal presumptive travel associated case of legionellosis in April, Potential site of infection was a pension in Nógrád County. Legionella counts in the hot water samples collected at the site were extremely high ( CFU/L), cold water system was not colonized. The 15 environmental isolates were L. pn. sg 1 (11 strains) and 3 (4 strains). Three fingerprint types were differentiated by rep-pcr and MALDI MS. The clinical isolate (L. pn. sg 1) has shown 96% similarity to one of the environmental strains based on its PFGE pattern, which indicates the pension as the probable site of infection. Case #3 was a confirmed nosocomial case in April 2008, involving two hospitals in Pest County. Epidemiological investigation of this case is still in progress. Rep-PCR and MALDI-TOF MS both differentiated isolates at sub-serotype level. As both methods are considerably faster and less expensive than the golden standard techniques PFGE or MLST, they provide efficient pre-screening during epidemiological investigations. HAS HIV EVOLVED TO INDUCE IMMUNE PATHOGENESIS? ISTVÁN BARTHA 1, PÉTER SIMON 2, VIKTOR MÜLLER 1 1 Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. sétány 1/C, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 2 Institute of Mathematics, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. sétány 1/C, H-1117, Budapest, Hungary We present mathematical and simulation models on important aspects of the evolution and pathogenesis of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV induces a chronic generalized activation of the immune system, which plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AIDS. We investigated whether this ability of the virus is an evolved (adaptive) trait, likely to be retained during future evolution, or a coincidental side-effect of the recent jump to the new human host species, which might be lost eventually. We argue that selection favours the ability of HIV to induce immune activation at the local sites of infection (e.g. lymph follicles) but not at the systemic level. HIV may benefit from increased immune activation, because it replicates primarily in activated CD4 + T lymphocytes; by raising the level of immune activation, the virus can thus increase its supply of susceptible target cells. We developed mathematical and simulation models to investigate under what conditions the ability to induce immune activation (and increased target cell supply) provides a selective advantage to the virus. We distinguished between systemic immune activation that affects the whole target cell population and local activation that is confined to the neighbourhood of the inducing virus. The former was implemented in a spatially homogeneous mathematical model, while the latter was investigated in a simulation model involving local bursts of infection. In both settings, we assumed that activated target cells are more susceptible to infection. In our models, selection favoured the ability of HIV to induce local but not systemic immune activation. Increased systemic activation increases the total virus level; however, it benefits all virus variants equally and is therefore selectively neutral. In contrast, local sites of infection are colonized by just a few viruses and therefore the benefit of locally increased target cell supply can be reaped largely by the inducer viruses. We thus conclude that the generalized immune activation that is likely responsible for pathogenesis is probably not directly under selection in the evolution of HIV. However, it may arise as a side-effect of local immune activation, which is likely to be under selection. According to our models, the future evolution of HIV may depend on the predominant range of the immune activation effect, and on whether short- and long-range activation effects can be decoupled. DESCRIPTION OF NEW TYPE FUMONISINS BELONGING TO THE FBX SERIES TIBOR BARTÓK 1, ANDRÁS SZEKERES 2, ÁRPÁD SZÉCSY 3, MIHÁLY BARTÓK 4, OTTÓ BENCSIK 5, ÁRPÁD CSERNETICS 5, CSABA VÁGVÖLGYI 5, ÁKOS MESTERHÁZY 1 1 Cereal Research Non-profit Company, P.O.Box 391., H-6701 Szeged, Hungary 2 Analytical Laboratory, FumoPrep Ltd., Vállalkozók útja 1/b, H-6782, Mórahalom, Hungary 3 Department of Plant Pathology, Plant Protection Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O.Box 102, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary 4 Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Szeged, Dóm tér 8, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary 5 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6701, Szeged, Hungary; - 8 -

9 The fumonisins, a group of polyketide-derived, structurally related mycotoxins produced mainly by Fusarium verticillioides and F. proliferatum, can cause severe diseases, including leucoencephalomalacia in horses, pulmonary edema in pigs, cancer in rats, moreover, the consumption of fumonisin-contaminated maize and maize-based products has been associated with a high incidence of human esophageal cancer. The fumonisin analogs can be classified into four main groups, identified as the fumonisin series FA, FB, FC, FP and the novel developed group of FD. Fumonisins are characterized by a aminopolyhydroxyalkyl carbon chain containing carbon atoms which is mono or diesterified mainly with propane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid. By means of liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization ion-trap multistage mass spectrometry (MS) Bartók et al. (2006) detected 37 new fumonisins; among them the backbone of 12 compounds (FBX series) were esterified by other carboxylic acids such as cis-aconitic acid, oxalylsuccinic acid and oxalylfumaric acid. Here we report the detection and partial structural determination of further four new, minor fumonisin mycotoxins belonging in the recently described FBX series by applying a new, highly sensitive ion-trap MS equipment. The masses of the protonated molecules and of the characteristic product ions as well as the characteristic neutral mass losses from the protonated molecules suggested their structure. The relative quantities of the new minor compounds were expressed as percentages of FB1 toxin. Acknowledgement: András Szekeres is a grantee of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. ROLE OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN DAILY DUTY OF A CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY LABORATORY ANITA BECKER, ISTVÁN BARCS, ÁGOSTON GHIDÁN, KÁROLY NAGY Institute of Medical Microbiology, Semmelweis University, Nagyvárad tér 4, H-1089 Budapest, Hungary Aim of epidemiological investigation of bacterial isolates is to demonstrate any similarity or difference comparing them. These examinations are directed towards clarifying relations between the single isolates or supporting a supposed outbreak. Usually, this process is time-consuming, but in case of community-acquired infections, quick results have less consequence than that of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) are needed. Neither manifestation of a HAI could not be established without a detailed analyse of the strains isolated in one ward or within a short interval. Greater discriminating power is attributed to molecular biology tools but performance of them has been localized to special reference laboratories. Repetitive PCR based DNA chip method Diversilab (biomérieux) was used at the Microbiology Department of Semmelweis University during a 4-months period to adapt for clinical microbiology purpose. A numbers of 44 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 44 of different Enterococcus species, and 86 methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains were examined, as well. Strains were originated from clinical samples. Dendograms created by the homology of sequences of P. aeruginosa strains tested showed incidence of one clone between of newborns of one perinatal intensive centrum but majority of the isolates proved to be sporadical. MRSA strains sourced from the Clinic of Cardiovascular Surgery belonged several well-distingushed clones; isolates from invasive infections outlined incidence of South-German and New York clones predominating in Hungary. Enterococcal isolates from animal samples differed significantly from that of human origin but results of earlier performed pulsed field electrophoresis were verified. The 4-hour method is fully automated; no staff of special experiences is needed. NANOTECHNOLOGY AND FOOD SAFETY JUDIT BECZNER. 1, JÓZSEF FARKAS 1,2 1 Department of Microbiology, Central Food Research Institute, Budapest, Herman Ottó út 15, H-1022 Budapest, 2 Department of Refrigeration and Livestock Products Technology, Faculty of Food Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, Ménesi út 45, H-1118 Budapest The ability of microbes to attach different surfaces provides them the possibility to survive under harsh conditions and also defence against different disinfectants, biocides. Surface attached microbes are a threat to the food industry, since they are a constant source of contamination. The investigation of attachment is difficult generally a combination of traditional methods (staining, epifluorescent microscopy, traditional plating, scanning electron-microscopy) should be applied and different molecular methods (i.e. FISH) can also be useful. Using nanotechnology in the investigation, like atomic force microscopy, quartz crystal nanobalance provides further information on biofilm formation. Biosensor OWL is a useful method to investigate biofilm formation. Attachment and biofilm formation can be inhibited by applying Langmuir-Blodgett nanolayer coatings on surfaces. Application of silver or other metal nanoparticles might also be a useful method for killing microbes, - 9 -

10 however their mode of action and the effect on the environmental microbiota is far from being clear. Nanotechnological methods have continuously improving possibilities to learn more about the microbes, and might also provide effective tools to control the growth of the harmful microbiota, however its impact on the environment should be carefully analysed. PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISATION AND MOLECULAR TYPING OF POULTRY MEAT SPOILING BACTERIA ÁGNES BELÁK, DÓRA MÁRTA, KLÁRA KRASCSENICS, SNJEZANA CENIĆ, ANNA MARÁZ Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Corvinus University of Budapest, Somlói út 14-16, H-1118 Budapest In these days for production of safety food and protection of consumers health one of our most important tasks is the reduction and elimination of microbiological risk. Detection, characterisation and identification of pathogenic and food spoilage microbes in raw and mildly treated foods are significant by reason of increased demand for good quality and safety foods. In case of poultry meat Pseudomonas spp. tend to be the most important spoilage bacteria under aerobic storage conditions, but other groups of bacteria are also important in spoilage. Microbiological changes during refrigeration storage of chicken upper legs at 4 C were analysed in two series of examination. Examination of microscopical cell morphology, Gram-staining and different biochemical tests were performed to identify the bacteria. Further additional analyses like colony morphology on WL nutrient agar, determination of the optimal growing temperature (10, 20, 25, 37 and 42 C) were carried out. Typing of dominant spoiling bacteria was performed with different PCR-based molecular methods, such as RAPD and ARDRA. Forty-seven bacteria were isolated from chilled poultry meat samples. On basis of Gram staining two isolates proved to be Gram-positive, while the remaining strains were Gram-negative. It was established that isolates could grow relatively well at 10 C, they showed excellent growing at 20 and 25 C, but at higher temperature (at 37 and 42 C) multiplication was hardly noticeable, so most of the isolates proved to be psychrotrophic microorganisms. According to the miniaturised identification tests majority of the isolates (thirty of them) were distinguished as the members of Pseudomonas genus. The other dominant Gram-negative species were Aeromonas spp and Hafnia alvei. Gram-positive species occurred only in very small ratio (mainly Staphylococcus capitis and Corynebacterium sp). Molecular typing of Pseudomonas isolates was performed with RAPD and amplified rdna restriction analysis. ARDRA was done with the application of AluI, HaeIII and RsaI restriction enzymes. Clusters were created according to the digestion motifs of AluI because the other two enzymes did not have enough discriminatory power. In the first experiment some isolates had the same patterns as P. lundensis type strain, some were similar to P. fluorescens. In case of the second experiment four clusters were created and only one of them showed similarity with P. lundensis authentic strain. Two different oligonucleotide primers were used in case of RAPD analysis. All of the isolates showed different patterns as the consequence of combination of the two primers, so on the basis of these results isolates seemed to be different strains of Pseudomonas species. Molecular analyses were done with the other non- Pseudomonas bacteria as well. This work was supported by the Foodchain RET (OMFB-01555/2006). PRODUCTION OF OTM1, A BIOLOGICAL ACTIVE EXTRACELLULAR METABOLITE OF FILAMENTOUS FUNGI OTTÓ BENCSIK 1, ANDRÁS SZEKERES 2, TAMÁS PAPP 1, ÁRPÁD CSERNETICS 1, CSABA VÁGVÖLGYI 1 1 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6701, Szeged, Hungary; 2 Analytical Laboratory, FumoPrep Ltd., Vállalkozók útja 1/b, H-6782, Mórahalom, Hungary In our continuing search of bioactive metabolites, mycotoxins which show bactericide or fungicide effects producing by filamentous fungi, we found a potent antifungal compound produced in the culture broth of some fungal strains collected from different culture collections. For the selection of the proper secondary metabolites presenting significant antifungal effect 17 isolates representing 6 different genera (Micromucor, Mortierella, Mucor, Rhizomucor, Rhizopus and Gilbertella) of the class Zygomycetes were selected. The members of this class have significant agricultural importance as postharvest pathogens of agricultural products and as the most frequently isolated causative agents of fungal rots. Other representatives of this group are known to be opportunistic pathogens of humans and animals. These fungi have a substantial intrinsic resistance to most of the widely used antifungal drugs, thus it is very important to found effective natural metabolites against them. The in vitro antifungal activity of ferment broth of numerous

11 fungal strains was determined with 96-well microtiter plate bioassay by measuring the absorbance of fungal cultures at 620 nm. After the initial testing the active metabolite (OtM1) was identified using the fractionation of ferment broth and standard etalon compounds. The identified molecule is produced by the members of a specific fungal genus, which can cause some significant disease on plants. In our study the kinetics of the OtM1 production were investigated in the case of 20 selected isolates. For the qualification and quantification of the OtM1 an isocratic HPLC method was developed using water and methanol as eluents on a Phenomenex Prodigy C18 column. The detection wavelengths were on 230 nm and 254 nm as well as the column thermostat temperature was 35 C. The repeatability, linearity of the analytical technique was tested and the detection limit as well as the quantitation limit was determined. The peak purities in all samples were checked with the ratio of the two detector channel. Appearance of the OtM1 in time was examined after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 days of culturing at four different temperature. For all examined strains the maximum levels of OtM1 were detected on days 5-6 at all temperature, but showed different kinetics and amounts. In general the secretion of the OtM1 had a characteristic temperature dependence. Four strains were found to be interesting because of the high amount of the produced the OtM1. The results of this work can provide the excellent producer microbes and optimized fermentation conditions for the further investigation of the biological effect of OtM1. Acknowledgement: András Szekeres and Tamás Papp are grantees of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. MONITORING AND POTENTIAL MANIPULATION OF SOIL-BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES IN THE AGRI-FOOD CHAIN BORBÁLA BIRÓ 1, KÁROLY KAFFKA 2, JUDIT BECZNER 3 1 Research Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest; 2 Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Food Science, and 3 Central Food Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary The soil is a living entity: its main function, the soil-fertility and also the plant-health are highly dependent on its biological characteristics. To improve the soil-biological status, alternative organics, such as the agricultural and municipal wastes are frequently used. Beside the possible heavy-metals accumulation, care should be given for the abundance and functioning of the beneficial biofertilizers providing the most-important macro-, microelements for plants. Microbes of food-safety importance should also be considered. The heavy-metals-accumulation, the abundance of beneficial microsymbionts and potential pathogens were studied in four Hungarian representative soils, amended with industrial and municipial sludge- or sheep-yardmanure compost-types at different doses. Host-plants green-pea (Pisum sativum L) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa) were used in the short- (3 months) and long-term (4-years) pot-experiments. The colonization (M%) and functioning (A%) of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and/or the root-nodulation of N 2 -fixing Rhizobium bacteria were assessed in the rhizosphere of the hosts. The occurrence of microbes having food-safety importance (i.e. Salmonella spp, E. coli, Clostridium spp etc.) was monitored. NIR spectroscopy, as a fast and non-destructive method was used for the characterisation and discrimination of biosolid-amended soils. On a long-term basis the abundance of the microsymbionts are reduced both by accumulating heavy metals and also as a consequence of the improved soil-nutrient-availability. The microbes of food safety importance slightly increased as a function of the increasing sludge doses probably due to the nutrient availability within a year, however no accumulation was noticed as a function of time. The NIR spectroscopy proved to be an available tool in the detection of the sewage-sludge application in the arable fields. The importance of monitoring the beneficial microsymbionts and the microbes of food-safety importance in the agricultural area is underlined. The researches were supported by the Hungarian National Research Fund (OTKA K-68992, TO 30941), Széchenyi-project (NKFP-4/0028/2002), the MARD (FVN KF-78/7/2001) and the NATO ESP.NR.NRCLG projects. BACTERIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISATION OF THREE ULTRA PURE COOLING WATER PURIFICATION TANKS BY MEANS OF CULTIVATION AND CULTIVATION INDEPENDENT METHODS VERONIKA BOHUS 1,2, MÁRTON SZOBOSZLAY 1, KÁROLY MÁRIALIGETI 1,2, ERIKA M. TÓTH 1,2 1 Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Sciences, Department of Microbiology, Pázmány Péter stny. 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary; 2 ELTE Environmental Cooperative Research Centre, Pázmány Péter stny. 1/A, 1117 Budapest, Hungary

12 Many industrial institutions suffer from the microbial contamination of cooling water though they use ultra pure water. Microbes exist and form biofilms on different surfaces of the system. Due to the biofilm formation metals are subjected to microbially-influenced corrosion (MIC). In our study, cooling waters were examined in front of and behind different tanks both in the primer (boyler) and the secunder (turbines) cycle of a Hungarian power plant. Three different water cleaning tanks (VT) were examined: I.VT treats the water from the primary cycle with non-regenerated resin; IV.VT cleans waters from both cycles, containing a long time ago regenerated (2- year-old) resin; V.VT treats the water from the secondary cycle and has been regenerated for 1 year ago. Cultivation was carried out on R2A medium. Total cell number was determined by using epifluorescent microscopy after DAPI dying. For molecular studies, 5-9 litres of water samples were filtered simultaneously, then total DNA isolation and community fingerprint was carried out with T-RFLP. Shannon-Waever diversity indices were calculated based on T-RFs. To identify the dominant bacteria in the samples, previously constructed clone library was used for peak identification. The total cell number results ranged between orders of magnitude. The calculated Shannon-Waever diversity indices ranged between 1.97 to In case of I.VT the relatively low total cell counts were in touched with high diversity. The opposite results could be detected in case of the two other samples. Cultivation results revealed similar community structure by means of main descent lineages but showed many differences at species level that could be due to the characteristic features of the different water cleaning tanks. The waters could be characterised by the dominance and the high diversity of actinobacteria (Microbacterium, Rhodococcus, Micrococcus). Besides, genera Ralstonia, Bacillus, Staphylococcus, and still not cultivated bacteria could be found in all samples. T-RFLP analyses revealed characteristic differences in the profiles and showed shifts in the community structure compositions in case of all water samples. The samples were dominated by β-proteobacteria (Sterolibacterium, Methylibium, Polaromonas). Members of α- proteobacteria (Sphingomonas, Novosphingobium), CFB (Bacteroidetes) and Firmicutes also could be observed. In case of I.VT, dominant CFB and peak sized by 284 T-RF as well as taxa belonging to β- and γ-proteobacteria which have been found in inlet water disappeared, except Methylosinus sp. of that amount increased in the outlet water. In addition, new phylotypes appeared such as Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, division Verrumicrobia, Rhodoferax sp. Concerning the tank IV., inlet water was dominated by peak sized by 284 T-RF which shifted to peak sized by 290 TRF in the outlet water. In case of V.VT., genus Acidovorax was dominated. The dominance shifting was touched with the decrease of the diversity in these two samples. AUJESZKY S DISEASE VIRUS AS A TOOL IN VARIOUS BIOLOGICAL DISCIPLINES ZSOLT BOLDOGKŐI Aujeszky s disease virus (AyV) is not only an animal pathogen but also a model organism for the study of molecular mechanisms of neurotropic herpesviruses. Furthermore, AyV is utilized as a tool in several biological disciplines such as neurobiology, genetics, tumor biology, etc. Specifically, using specific mutations, AyV can be rendered to an oncolytic agent, a gene delivery vector and a transsynaptic tracing tool. This talk presents our newest results in the above fields THE INVESTIGATION OF NORMAL AND GAMMA IRRADIATED TSE AGENTS IN DIFFERENT CELL- LINES EXPRESSING CELLULAR PRION GABRIELLA BRAUN, LÁSZLÓ DENCSŐ, LAJOS TEKES, PÁL SOMOGYI Central Agricultural Office, Veterinary Diagnostic Directorate, Budapest It is known that in TSEs the disease-associated form of prion proteins (PrP Sc ) propagate itself in infected hosts by inducing the conversion of the physiological, cellular form of prion protein (PrP c ) into the pathological, disease-associated form. Vilette et al. used rabbit kidney epithelial cell line RK13 to create a stable transfected form (Rov9) of a cell line which contains the complete coding sequence of the ovine (sheep) cellular prion protein. The expression of PrP c is inducible by doxycyclin (1 µg/ml). They demonstrate that after inoculation of induced Rov9 cells with ovine PrP Sc cells could be propagated accumulating PrP Sc at increasing levels upto the passage. To examine the effect of gamma irradiation we used the same Rov9 cell line as well as transiently, continuously (at every second passage) transfected RK13 and CHO cells expressing ovine and bovine PrP c. We propagated all of the different cell lines to the 6th passage and carried out proteinase K digestion using cell lysates for PAGE and Western blot analysis to detect and distinguish the PrP C and PrP Sc. Inoculation of induced Rov9 cells and the other above mentioned cell lines using irradiated infectious brain homogenates (nominal doses of 50 and 200 kgy) we got almost the same Western blot patterns as in case of non-irradiated samples with the only exception that in every case proteins with lower molecular weights

13 appeared. In all cases our results were very similar to those of Rov9 s both in irradiated and non-irradiated samples, but transfection of CHO cells appeared to be more efficient than RK13. We concluded that similarly to our cell free experiments gamma irradiation is not capable to influence significantly the conversion capability of PrP Sc. PHAGETERAPEUTIC PRODUCT AGAINST CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI ANIKÓ BURUNCZ, TAMÁS KOVÁCS Enviroinvest-Waste Ltd, Szekszárd, Hungary Campylobacter jejuni is Gram-negative, motile humanpathogen causative agent with bipolar flagella, and twisted cell morphology, belonging to the Campylobacteriaceae family. The organism shows oxidase- and catalase-positive activity, and grows under microaerophil circumstances. It can be characterized and selectively grown on Cefoperasone-Charcoal-Desoxicolat-Citrate (CCDA) agar. The majority of human diseases occur in summer and in autumn. Sources of contamination can be food, surface water, wastewater, domestic animlas, rodentia, birds and stools of both ill or asymptomic people. 95% of poultry are asymptomatic carriers. Currently it is one of the most common causative agent of coccidiosis both in developed and developing countries. Symptomes of the disease are fever, stitch, diarrhea, gall bladder inflammation, urethral infection and in severe cases meningitis. Taking the above mentioned into consideration, our aim is to develop a product containing phages tested to host-specificity, analyzed both morphologically and genetically, which is able to infect Campylobacter jejuni and can be used to treat meat products by lowering the cases of infections, thus increasing food safety. Samples were taken from wastewater-treatment plants, poultry- and poultry abattoirs and from wild birds. Treatment does not influence neither food-taste, nor the bio -qualification, since phages are isolated from nature, no genetic modification will occur and the product is going to be chemical-free. BIOLOGICAL DEGRADATION OF AFLATOXIN B1 BY SOIL BACTERIA MÁTYÁS CSERHÁTI 1, SÁNDOR SZOBOSZLAY 1, BOTOND SIKLÓDI 2, BALÁZS KRISZT 1, JÓZSEF KUKOLYA 3 1 Department of Environmental Protection and Environmental Safety, Szent István University, Páter K. U. 1. H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary; 2 SoftFlow Biotechnology Ltd., Szent-Györgyi Albert u. 4., H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary; 3 Agruniver Holding Ltd., Ganz Á. u. 1., H-2100 Gödöllő, Hungary Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the most potent natural human carcinogens. Beside its mutagenic nature it also exerts toxic and EDC-disrupting effects on mammals, so elimination of AFB1 from food and feedstock would be of great importance to human and animal health. In this study biological degradation of AFB1 by different oil decomposer soil inhabiting bacteria originating from the strain collection of Agruniver Holding Kft. was examined in liquid cultures and in cell-free extracts. The investigated 24 strains belong to the Chryseobacterium, Brevibacterium, Gordonia and Rhodococcus genus. For AFB1 monitoring we used two different approaches: immunoaffinity column cleanup with liquid chromatography (LC) and microtitre plate Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. The liquid culture experiment resulted in high reduction of AFB1. R. erythropolis AK35 and strain K4 were able to degrade more than 94% of the AFB1 (2ppm) even within one day of incubation. By the use of 16S rdna sequence analysis we identified strain K4 as R. erythropolis. Interestingly all the five best AFB1 decomposer strains in this study belong to the same species. The ability of crude cell free extracts to degrade AFB1 was studied under different incubation conditions. Aflatoxin B1 was effectively degraded by cell free extracts of strain AK35 and K4. When cell extracts were incubated with proteinase K or heat shock was applied dramatic activity loss was observed. The binding capacity of the surface of the two rhodococcus strains was also measured. According to our results the physical binding of AFB1 was as low as 1,3%. These results confirm that AFB1 decomposition by R. erythropolis is an enzymatic process. The high degradation rate of AFB1 by R. erythropolis AK35 and K4 indicate potential for biodetoxification application in food and feed processing. Acknowledgement: This study was supported by grant KMOP / BIOGAS PRODUCTION ON VARIOUS ORGANIC WASTES IN A TEST LABORATORY SCALE FERMENTER SERIAL PETRA CSERJÉSI, NÁNDOR NEMESTÓTHY, BALÁZS VAJDA, ÉVA LÖVITUSZ, KATALIN BÉLAFI-BAKÓ

14 Research Institute of Chemical and Process Engineering, Pannon University, Egyetem u. 10. H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary Biogas is one of the most promising alternative energy sources, which can be produced from many types of organic waste materials. In this project various aspects of biogas production are studied, including the effects of the substrate composition and operational conditions (ph, temperature, microbial consortia etc.) and the impact of biofilm formation. The main purpose of this work is to find the optimal parameters for biogas fermentation in a test laboratory scale fermentor serial, which is composed of twelve fermenter units. Each unit has a volume of 1000 cm 3 and was designed in a way that all the important parameters of the biological culture can be investigated and controlled. The amount of the produced biogas can be measured continuously by a special volumetric gas measuring device, which is made of glass and contains water. The biogas changes the water level in the calibrated device, which induces an electric sign. Since this sign belongs to a certain amount of gas the accurate volume of the produced biogas can be easily determined. Experiments were carried out under nitrogen atmosphere at different temperatures on three different types of organic waste (waste produced in alcohol production, grass and compost), on glucose and on saccharose. The composition of the gas is analyzed by gas chromatography. It was found that reliable and successful biogas production can be achieved in the test fermenter. Acknowledgement: The financial support of the Jedlik Ányos project ( ) titled Development of new bioethanol and biogas producing technologies (grant no. BIODDFPE) is acknowledged. PRESENCE OF LYMPHOTROPIC HUMAN HERPESVIRUSES, PAPILLOMAVIRUSES AND TT VIRUS IN AMNIOTIC FLUID TAKEN FROM HEALTHY PREGNANTS BEFORE PARTURITION IN HUNGARY MÁRTA CSIRE 1, BERNADETT PÁLYI 1, MÁRTA BENCZIK 5, ÁGNES DENCS 1, GÁBOR MIKALA 2, VILMOS FÜLÖP 4, CSABA JENEY 5, TIBOR TAKÁCS 5, ERZSÉBET BARCSAY 1, SALEH ALI YOUNES 1, MÁRIA TAKÁCS 1, ISTVÁN VÁLYI-NAGY 3, GYÖRGY BERENCSI 1, VISY MÁRIA 6 1 Division of Virology, National Center for Epidemiology, Gyáli út 2-6, H-1097 Budapest, Hungary 2 Department of Haematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, National Medical Center, Szabolcs utca 33, H-1135 Budapest, Hungary 3 1 st Department of Internal Medicine, National Medical Center, Szabolcs utca 33, H-1135 Budapest, Hungary 4 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National Medical Center, Szabolcs utca 33, H-1135 Budapest, Hungary 5 GenoID Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory Ltd, RóbertKároly krt.44, H-1134 Budapest, Hungary 6 2 nd Clinic for Pediatrics of the Semmelweis University of Medicine,Tűzoltó utca 7-9,H-1094 Budapest, Hungary Pregnant women were examined following healthy pregnancies at term. Lymphotropic herpesviruses have been found by many authors in the urine and blood of healthy neonates. The published methodologies of sampling suggested transplacental transmission in addition to the perinatal infection during delivery. The work presented is the first systematic screening of amniotic fluids taken from healthy pregnants at term and tested for the presence of human herpesvirus (HHV) types 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. The presence of all anogenital papillomavirus genotypes was also examined. Amniotic fluids were sampled before arteficial rupture of membranes using a closed vacutainer system. With the permission of the Committee for Ethics 106 amniotic fluid samples and maternal blood samples were examined. Both amniotic fluids and blood samples were tested for the presence of DNA of lymphotropic herpesviruses. The DNA of human papillomaviruses and TT virus were tested only in the amniotic fluid samples. The DNA of at least one herpesvirus could be deteced in every fourth amniotic fluid sample and in every eighth blood sample. The prevalence of papillomaviruses was 9 of 106 samples. HHV-4, HHV-5 and HHV-7 were found more frequently in the amniotic fluids than in blood samples (7 to 1).The prevalence of HHV-6 and 8 was higher in the blood samples than in the amniotic fluids. It is well known, that fetal cells can be detected in the maternal circulation. Recently it has been shown, that maternal cells can be transported into fetal tissues, too. Our hypothesis is that the reactivation of latently harboured viruses occurs following materno-fetal transfer of the lymphocytes. The materno-fetal trasport of reactivated viruses cannot be excluded either. Further systematic follow up will be required to assess post partum pathological, immunological and possible oncological consequences of the late transplacental viral infections. PRESENCE OF TT VIRUS IN DIFFERENT ORGANS OF WEANED PIGLETS. CSENGE CSISZÁR 1, ÁGNES DENCS 1, ANDREA HETTMANN, BÉLA NAGY 2, GYÖRGY BERENCSI 1, MÁRIA TAKÁCS 1 1 Division of Virology, National Center for Epidemiology, Budapest, Hungary (partner institute of VMRI) 2 Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary

15 Torque teno virus (TTV) is considered an emerging foodborne virus of pigs threatening human health. This pilot study aimed to reveal the presence of TT virus in different organs of piglets (liver, intestine and blood). Samples of 14 weaned piglets from one large herd were tested for the presence of TTV-DNA. Primers specific for swine TTV were used to test the prevalence. PCR products were cloned and sequenced. The number of positive samples was 5/14, 3/14 and 2/14 in liver, intestine and blood, respectively. All the samples (liver, intestine and blood) were positive only from one piglet. Both the liver and the intestine were positive in case of 2 piglets. Two piglets livers were found to be positive without the positivity of blood or intestine and a piglet had viremia without positivity in other organs tested. No specific clinical signs were assigned to these pigs. The sequences of the PCR products were determined and the sequences of viruses derived from different organs were compared. TT virus is present in some organs of weaned piglets without clinical signs. The sequence of viruses derived from different organs may be not identical. EFFECT OF HHV-6A ON MONOCYTES AND HIV-1 R5 VARIANT ESZTER CSOMA, BEÁTA MÉSZÁROS, LAJOS GERGELY Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of Debrecen, Hungary, 4032 Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98. Our aim is to examine the effect of HHV-6A on monocyte differentiation, expression of CCR5, and to study the interaction between HHV-6 and HIV-1. Since in vivo monocytes are targets for HHV- 6 latency, we establish latently infected cells by HHV-6A. Monocytes are infected with HHV-6A then cell differentiation, CCR5 expression and susceptibility to R5 variant HIV-1 are studied. Cells infected latently with HHV-6 and mock-infected are superinfected with HIV-1, and viral replications are investigated. Negative isolation of monocytes by antibodies, immunofluorescence assay for HHV-6 antigenes, flow cytometry, real-time PCR and reverse transcriptase assay were used. Expression level of CCR5 increased with cell differentiation on mock and HHV-6 infected monocytes, but amount was less on HHV-6 infected cells. Phenotype (size, morphology) of infected cells was different. HHV-6 antigens were not detected, replication was not productive, genome-equivalent in HHV-6A positive cell culture supernatants did not increase with time. Superinfection of latently infected cells by HIV-1 did not result in HHV-6A reactivation, but suppressed HIV-1 replication was observed. Our preliminary data suggest that HHV-6A alters monocyte differentiation, CCR5 expression, hence the susceptibility to R5 HIV-1. Suppressed HIV-1 replication in co-infected cells might result from these or other factors which require further studies. HIV-1 superinfection did not result in HHV-6 reactivation, hence other methods (autogenic, allogenic stimulation by uninfected and HIV-1 infected lymphocytes) should be investigated. TAXONOMIC RECLASSIFICATION OF CANDIDA STELLATA STRAINS HAJNALKA CSOMA, MATTHIAS SIPICZKI Department of Genetics and Applied Microbiology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, POBox 56, H-4010 Debrecen, Hungary Yeasts identified as Candida stellata are frequently associated with overripe and botrytized grapes and can survive in the fermenting must until the completion of vinification. In earlier years, we isolated high amount of C. stellata strains from botrytized wines and grapes. The molecular taxonomic examination of these strains revealed that they belong to C. zemplinina. The two species could not be distinguished by conventional assimilation and growth tests. To obtain more data about the taxonomic position of these yeasts, we involved additional 33 isolates from our collection and 43 strains deposited in other collections as strains of C. stellata. For their reclassification we used molecular methods such as the PCR-RFLP of the ITS1-5.8S rrna gene-its2 and the sequence analysis of the chromosomal region coding for the D1/D2 domain of the 26S rrna. Our results demonstrate that the species name C. stellata has been used for yeasts, many of which, in view of recent developments of yeast taxonomy, are not conspecific with the type strain of C. stellata. Most strains originally identified as C. stellata and examined in this study turned out to belong to species that were not known yet at the time of their isolation, such as C. zemplinina, C. lactis-condensi, C. davenportii or Starmerella bombicola. In some cases we identified Saccharomyces (11-80/CCY , 11-61/DBVPG 4171), Debaryomyces (11-78/CCY ), Pichia (11-65/DBVPG 3826) and Torulaspora (11-3/RIVE ) among strains deposited in the culture collections. Considerable amount of information published about C. stellata in wine-making came from the investigation of DBVPG strains, which were found to be strains of St

16 bombicola. The CBS, RIVE, CECT, FAW, Rbst, Rst strains originated from grape and wine and our isolates turned out to be C. zemplinina. C. stellata was not found among yeasts newly isolated from noble rotted grapes and botrytized wines either. The findings indicate that C. stellata is far less widespread in grapes and natural wine fermentation than hitherto thought. MOLECULAR AND PHYSIOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION OF THE YEASTS ISOLATED FROM FERMENTED RIESLING IN BADACSONY HAJNALKA CSOMA, NÓRA ZÁKÁNY Department of Genetics and Applied Microbiology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, POBox 56, 4010 Debrecen, Hungary In Badacsony wine region the Italian Riesling ithe most significant grape variety.under specific climatic conditions Riesling grapes left on the vine beyond normal ripeness can develop Noble Rot. The result of the activity of non-toxic mold, Botrytis cinerea, is the shriveling of the grapes, the evaporation of much of the juice, and the concentration of the sugar. The wines made from these late-picked or selectively-picked berries have not only incredibly intense and concentrated flavors, but also remarkable life span. The objective of this work was to study the evolution of yeast populations and to describe the indegenous yeast microbiota during spontaneous fermentation of Riesling musts from Badacsony. To investigate the yeast microbiota, we isolated yeast strains from late-harvested fresh must in 2006 and We sampled the musts several times during the fermentation and determined the colony forming units (cfu) to follow the changes of the yeasts populations. We isolated 557 yeast strains in the two vintages. The taxonomic identification of the isolates was done by conventional yeast identification methods based on morphology, sporulation, utilisation of carbon and nitrogen sources, tolerance to 1 % acetic acid, growth at various temperatures. The molecular analysis was done with representative strains of the species found. The PCR-RFLP of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 and NTS2 regions of the rdna and the MET2 gene and the sequence of the 26S region of the rdna were analysed. We examined the number and the size of the yeast chromosomes by the method of pulsed field gel electrophoresis (CHEF). The results confirmed that the isolates belonged to Aureobasidium pullulans, Hanseniaspora uvarum, Metschnikovia pulcherrima, Candida zemplinina and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast species. The lowfermentative Hanseniaspora uvarum and Candida zemplinina were the predominating yeasts at the first stage of the fermentation among the yeasts found. In the middle of the fermentation S. cerevisiae yeasts became more abundant, increasing to population of cfu/ml. The other species could not be detected after this period to the end of the fermentation. This tendency was observed in both vintages. DETERMINATION OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUSES AND TYPES IN CERVICAL SAMPLES BEFORE THE VACCINATION ERA JUDITH DEÁK 1, GYULA MÉSZÁROS 2, KLÁRA BOHUS 2, ATTILA PÁL 2, ATTILA DEMETER 3, NÁNDOR ÁCS 4, KÁROLY TÓTH 5, ZSUZSA SCHAFF 6 1 Department of Clinical Microbiology, 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Szeged, H-6701 Szeged, PO Box 427, Szeged, 3 First Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 4 Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 6 Second Department of Pathology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, 5 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St Margit Hospital, Budapest, Hungary Cervical carcinoma is the tenth leading cause of mortality among women in Hungary. The annual numbers of deaths from 1999 to 2003 varied between 465 and 539. Cervical carcinoma is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. A multicentre study was performed in 1997 by means of cytology and a nucleic acid hybridization probe (Digene). The average HPV prevalence in women who participated in positive or negative family planning programmes was 17.6%. In another survey, the prevalence of HPV among a selected group of women who took part in a carcinoma screening programme was 43.4%. In four age groups, (I) 12-17, (II) 18-24, (III) and (IV) year-old women were examined by bimanual, colposcopic, cytological and molecular genetic methods. A short questionnaire was completed by these subjects. In order to achieve a better comparison of the Hungarian data with those from other countries, a new method, HPV PCR (Roche), was introduced for the detection of HPV in After hybridization to specific oligonucleotide probes, hybrids were detected by colorimetric determination. In the positive cases, the HPV types were determined by linear array (Roche). Parallel cytological examinations were performed with HPV diagnostic methods

17 220 (28.0%) of the 788 samples were positive with the PCR method, and 568 (72.0%) were negative. A higher prevalence of HPV was detected by PCR in comparison with the results of the earlier survey where nucleic acid hybridization was used. The highest HPV prevalence by age 35%, was detected in the year-old group. The highest HPV prevalence by education 50%, was detected in the lowest educated patient group (<8 years in elementary school). An increasing number of life time partners increased the prevalence of HPV. In the present study, types 58, 35 and 33 were most common in age groups I and II, while types 16, 58 and 35 were most frequent in age groups III and IV. The higher prevalence may be explained by the enhanced sensitivity of the amplified method. The PCR and the linear array procedure can detect 37 types, but the hybridization method only 18 HPV types. Many carcinomaprevention screening programmes in Hungary are free of charge. However, statistical surveys have demonstrated that screening programmes among women are not effective. A compulsory vaccination program against HPV infection could possibly decrease the mortality rate from cervical carcinoma among Hungarian women. GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF TYPE 2 CANINE PARVOVIRUS STRAINS FROM HUNGARY ZOLTÁN DEMETER, ELENA ALINA PALADE, MIKLÓS RUSVAI Department of Pathology and Forensic Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, István u. 2, H-1078 Budapest, Hungary Type 2 canine parvovirus (CPV2) infection is one of the most frequent causes of death in the young, susceptible canine populations worldwide. The clinical manifestation of the disease is characterized by lethargy, vomiting, leucopenia and diarrhoea. Since its emergence in the late 1970 s, several genotypes have been described. The genotyping of CPV2 strains is based on several key changes in the amino acid sequence of the capsid protein (VP2). Soon after the emergence of the firstly isolated genotype (named CPV2), it was replaced by a different antigenic variant named 2a that could be distinguished by the means of monoclonal antibodies. In the mid 1980 s the virus suffered another single mutation and the new variant (CPV2b) quickly spread around the world. Soon after the new antigenic variants (CPV2a and 2b) have completely replaced the original type 2 and are variously distributed and co-exist in canine populations worldwide. Since then a number of further mutations have been described, some of them associated with antigenic differences. Recent investigations have demonstrated that the recently described CPV2c is progressively replacing other CPV types in the Italian canine population. The CPV2c variants have also been reported in other European countries, as well as in South America and Asia. Although the clinical signs and pathological changes induced by the different genotypes of CPV2 are very similar, several studies demonstrated that sometimes there are significant differences in the severity of these changes. The aim of the study was to determine which CPV2 genotypes are currently present in Hungary. Surprisingly, the genetic and phylogenetic investigations of all these strains revealed that all of them were type 2a CPVs. The study also describes a seemingly stable point mutation that occurred in the VP2 region of some of the Hungarian CPV2 strains, which decisively interferes with the outcome of the previously described MboIIbased rapid identification test of type 2c CPV strains, leading to diagnostically false genotyping results. Since nowadays the genotyping of the different CPV2 strains is based mostly on investigation of the viral genome (RFLP, specific PCRs, and sequencing) instead of investigations of the antigenic properties of the virus, the misleading results of such rapid genotyping tests are of extreme interest. PREVALENCE AND GENOTYPES OF SEN VIRUS IN HUNGARIAN HEALTHCARE WORKERS ÁGNES DENCS, KATALIN N. SZOMOR, ANDREA HETTMANN, MÁRIA TAKÁCS Division of Virology, National Center for Epidemiology, H-1097 Budapest, Gyáli u Hungary SEN virus was discovered in Italy in 2000 and was shown to be related to the growing family of TTV-like viruses. Along with TTV (Torque Teno virus), SENV has been classified into the Anellovirus genus within the Circoviridae family. TTV isolates are classified into 5 genogroups and SENV genotypes belong to group 3 along with several TTV isolates. Like TTV, SEN virus can also be transmitted both enterally and parenterally. Two of the eight SENV strains (D and H) have been described as possible candidate viruses for inducing posttransfusion hepatitis, because they have been found to be more common in patients with transfusion-associated non-a to E hepatitis, than in healthy blood donors. The clinical importance of SENV is still uncertain, but the great variability observed in this group of viruses makes it important to study their prevalence and nature in the healthy population. In this study serum samples of 185 healthcare workers of a hospital in Budapest were examined for the presence of SENV DNA using polymerase chain reaction. SENV DNA was found in 132 of the healthcare workers (71,4%). SENV-D and H was detected in 42 (22,7%) and 48 (25,9%) samples, respectively

18 The detected viruses were genotyped using primers specific for SENV-D and H, and by cloning and sequencing of the PCR products. Several clones from four samples formed a distinct group in the phylogenetic analysis. They may represent a previously undescribed genotype. Also, the SEN virus DNA sequences carried by a symptomless laboratory healthcare worker were followed up for fifteen years. Two strains persisted and could be detected from 1992 to 2000 and from 1996 to Other strains caused transient infections and were found in only one of the samples. THE INFLUENCE OF GAMMA IRRADIATION ON CONVERSION OF SCRAPIE PRION IN CELL FREE SYSTEM USING PMCA METHOD LÁSZLÓ DENCSŐ, LAJOS TEKES, A. BAKOS, PÁL SOMOGYI Central Agricultural Office, Veterinary Diagnostic Directorate, Budapest, Microbiological Research Group. National Center for Epidemiolog,y, Budapest In TSE the pathological, protease resistant form of prion protein, termed PrP-Sc appears to propagate itself in infected host by inducing the conversion of its host encoded precursor, PrP-sen, into PrP-Sc. Mechanistic details of the conversion are not understood, but involve direct interaction between PrP-Sc and PrP-sen resulting a growing PrP-Sc multimer. Kosicko and coworkers were the first who found that this conversion is carried out in cell free system as well with strain and species specificities. More recent studies have shown that PrP-Sc formation can be amplified indefinitely in crude brain homogenates using protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) method. The elimination of PrP-Sc from different biological specimens is of great importance. We investigated the possibility of the application of gamma irradiation for this purpose (50 kgy and 200 kgy) supposing that it decreases the amount of PrP-Sc significantly. In that case it is possible to use PMCA method for the calculation of the effect of irradiation. PMCA method was set up for ovine and bovine TSE samples using Western blot analysis and the amplification rate was evaluated for normal as well as irradiated brain suspensions. We found that the conversion capability did not decrease in irradiated samples not even if we applied an extreme high dose (200kGy). Our results suggest that gamma irradiation itself is not capable to eliminate the pathological prion protein from biological samples. On the other hand a special conversion method was elaborated for human non irradiated TSE specimens only for diagnostic purposes. This method used platelet for the source of cellular prion protein and applied a special programmable shaker instead of ultrasonic equipment. It was found that a 24 hour treatment resulted in three times amplification in the amount of human PrP-Sc. TAGUCHI OPTIMISATION OF A MULTIPLEX PCR ORSOLYA DOBAY 1, EMESE JUHÁSZ 1, SEBASTIAN AMYES 2, KÁROLY NAGY 1 1 Institute of Medical Microbiology, Semmelweis University, Nagyvárad tér 4., H-1089 Budapest, Hungary; 2 Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4SB, Scotland, UK Recently, more and more laboratories have tried to devise a PCR-derived serotyping method for Streptococcus pneumoniae instead of the conventional one, based on antisera. The method described by Brito et al. (JCM, 2003), that we followed, uses a multiplex PCR reaction first, dividing the isolates into 6 different groups based on the detected PCR gel pattern. In order to optimise this crucial step, we decided to use the Taguchi method. This method can evaluate the individual effect of six parameters (A-F), by performing only 18 experiments, varying the parameter levels in an orthogonal arrangement which suppresses the interactions between them. Each parameter can have 3 different values (levels), except the first one (A), which can have six. From preliminary experiments, we have confirmed that the template DNA should be obtained by brief immersion of bacteria directly into the PCR mix, so we have now preset this parameter, as well as presetting the annealing temperature at 60 o C. Hence we have set the following parameters in the optimisation: primer concentrations and their relative ratio (cpsb-f, cpsc-r1, cpsc-r2, cpso-f and cpso-r primers), concentration of MgCl 2 and nucleotide mix, and the quality of polymerase (Taq, Tth or AmpliTaq Gold) and PCR buffer (see Table). As a result, clear and sharp bands were observed in 5 experiments out of the 18, while the reaction did not work reliably in the other cases or did not work at all. Additionally, we also managed to decrease the amount of two primers 10-fold, with respect to the high concentrations described in the original paper. The best results were achieved if AmpliTaq Gold polymerase was used with its own buffer, Taq polymerase with its own buffer, or Tth polymerase with Taq buffer. Since the optimisation was performed, the multiplex PCR was successfully applied for more than 100 strains

19 A cpsb-f : cpsc-r1 : cpsc-r2 B cpso f/r C Polymerase (1.25U) D PCR buffer E MgCl 2 F Nucleotide mix 1 10 : 5 : 5 µm 0.5 µm Taq Taq 2 mm 228 µm 2 15 : 7.5 : 7.5 µm 1 µm Tth Tth 2.4 mm 400 µm 3 20 : 10 : 5 µm 2 µm AmpliTaq AmpliTaq 4 mm 571 µm Gold Gold 4 10 : 5 : 2.5 µm 5 10 : 5 : 0.5 µm 6 20 : 10 : 1 µm THE EFFECT OF THE 7-VALENT CONJUGATE VACCINE (PCV7) ON PNEUMOCOCCAL INFECTIONS WORLD-WIDE ORSOLYA DOBAY 1, SEBASTIAN AMYES 2, KÁROLY NAGY 1 1 Institute of Medical Microbiology, Semmelweis University, Nagyvárad tér 4., H-1089 Budapest, Hungary; 2 Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh, 49 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4SB, Scotland, UK Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is responsible for the death of about 1 million children world-wide every year, causing severe community-acquired pneumonia or invasive diseases. To prevent these infections, several vaccines have been developed. The older 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine (Pneumovax, Merck) is ineffective in children <2 years old, who have the highest burden of disease. however, a new conjugate vaccine (Prevenar, PCV7, Wyeth) was developed, where 7 capsular polysaccharides are conjugated to a carrier protein. The PCV7 was first introduced in the USA in 2000 and later in several European countries. Many papers have summarised the expected or unpredicted consequences of the vaccination with PCV7. The PCV7 vaccine coverage of the resident bacteria is around 60-85% in the different countries, depending on the local serotype distribution. The major benefit of the vaccination is the radical decrease in both invasive and non-invasive infections (especially otitis media) caused by the vaccine types (VT), and, to a smaller extent, by all pneumococcal serotypes, and even by other pathogens, e.g. H. influenzae. On the other hand, an increase in infections due to non-vt (NVT) has been detected everywhere, a phenomenon called the replacement disease, largely as a result of the significant expansion of already established clones. Additionally, although the vaccine was able to positively influence pneumococcal resistance due to the suppression of resistant VT clones, increasing antimicrobial resistance among the NVTs remains a concern, as also the 2007 CDC report concluded. A special problem arose with the notoriously-resistant serotype 19A, because serotype 19F, which is part of the vaccine, does not provide sufficient cross protection against it. More worryingly, on several occasions, a vaccine-induced serotype switch has been observed, i.e. VT strains changed their capsular type to a NVT, while retaining their genetic background, resistance or virulence ( vaccine escape ). Nasopharyngeal colonisation plays a very important role in the transmission of pneumococci. A great advantage of PCV7 is, that in contrast to the polysaccharide vaccine, it can significantly reduce the carriage rate. PCV7 has another very important indirect effect: it can provide a very good protection not only in the immunised children, but also, because of herd immunity, in unvaccinated children or adults. The groups that benefit most are the <2 months old infants, who are too young to be vaccinated, and the elderly (>65 years). Finally it can be concluded that the unpredicted negative effects seem to occur to a much less extent compared to the overall beneficial effects of the conjugate vaccine. Even the cost-effectiveness calculations, used for decisions about vaccine usage in several countries, generally showed reasonable benefits. The introduction of the new conjugate vaccines (PCV10 and PCV13) in the very near future will hopefully overcome the problem associated with the very limited number of serotypes present in PCV7, and help to further decrease the burden of pneumococcal diseases world-wide. OCCURRENCE OF VANC POSITIVE ENTEROCOCCI IN DEBRECEN ZSUZSANNA DOMBRÁDI 1, VIKTOR DOMBRÁDI 2, JUDIT SZABÓ 1 1 Department of Medical Microbiology and 2 Department of Medical Chemistry, Medical and Health Science Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) are common nosocomial pathogens however, until now they have been rarely encountered in Hungary. In the present study we demonstrate that the prevalence of patients infected by

20 enterococci carrying the vanc resistance gene is rising in the hospitals of the Medical School at the University of Debrecen. Since January 2004 the Bacteriological Diagnostic Laboratory has been screening VRE on 6 mg/l vancomycin containing BHI agar plate according to NCCLS. Clinical samples collected between January 2004 and July 2008 were found to contain various enterococcus strains. Screen-positive isolates were tested for vancomycin and teicoplanin resistance by E-test. Resistant colonies were also investigated by the Vitek2 system. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction was preformed for the detection of the vancomycin resistance genes: vana, vanb, vanc1/c2, vand, vane and vang. Restriction digestions by HindIII and SalI enzymes were used to differentiate the vanc1 and vanc2 genes from each other. For species identification PCR was used to detect the Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium D-alanin-D-alanin ligase (ddl) genes or the Enterococcus casseliflavus, E. faecalis and Enterococcus gallinarum superoxid dismutase (soda) genes. Overall we identified the vanc1 resistance gene in 9 clinical samples, and the vanc2 resistance gene in 3 clinical samples. In 2004 we found this gene in one E. faecalis isolate from wound secretion and one E. casseliflavus isolate from urine. In 2005 another urine sample was shown to contain both E. faecalis carrying the vanc1, and E. casseliflavus carrying the vanc2 resistance genes. In 2007 we found 2 urine samples containing vanc2 positive E. faecalis strains. In the same year 1 E. faecalis and 1 E. gallinarum strains were identified, both from urine, and they carried the vanc1 gene. Finally, in 2008 we found 4 samples containing vanc1 positive E. gallinarum strains, which indicates, that the prevalence of E. gallinarum is alarmingly increasing. These isolates were cultured from blood, ascites and wound secretion. The relationships between the strains will be investigated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. GENOME STUDY OF A HERPESVIRUS ISOLATED FROM A CHONDROSTEAN FISH (ACIPENSER TRANSMONTANUS) ANDOR DOSZPOLY 1, SCOTT E. LAPATRA 2, BALÁZS HARRACH 1, MÁRIA BENKŐ 1 1 Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungária krt. 21, H-1143 Budapest, Hungary; 2 Research Division, Clear Springs Foods Inc., Buhl, Idaho , USA A new family (Alloherpesviridae) has just been approved for the classification of herpesviruses (HVs) of fish and amphibia lacking gene blocks homologous with those of mammalian, avian or reptilian HVs. To date, only six full genome sequences are available from fish or amphibian HVs: Ictalurid HV-1 (IcHV-1), three isolates of Koi HV-1, and Ranid HV-1 and -2 in addition to some partial sequences from other fish HVs. We study the genome of a virus strain obtained from white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) from the Snake River, Idaho State, USA (SRWSHV). The virus was isolated and propagated on an epithelial cell line (WSS-2). Viral genome fragments were randomly cloned into bacterial plasmid and sequenced. Missing regions between cloned fragments were amplified by PCR. Design of PCR primers relied on the fact that every gene identified from SRWSHV was similar, in size, position and orientation, to its counterpart in IcHV-1. Hitherto, 38 genes were fully sequenced, while partial sequence was determined from 7 additional genes. The cloned or PCR-amplified parts of the SRWSHV genome were assembled into a more than 60 kb contig that spans from the homologue of ORF 24 of IcHV-1 to ORF 68. There were only a few examples for significant discrepancy compared to the corresponding region of IcHV-1. The homologous proteins, found by the BLASTx program with highest scores in the GenBank, were almost invariably from IcHV-1 or in certain cases, from other fish and frog HVs, but never from mammalian, avian or reptilian HVs. These findings and results of the phylogenetic calculations suggest a common evolutionary origin of HVs of Anamnia, and confirm the decision of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses to create a novel virus family for the classification of these HVs. The establishment of a common order (Herpesvirales) for the three main lineages of HVs (infecting molluscs, anamniote and amniote vertebrates) was also supported by our data. (Support: OTKA K61317) ADJUVANT MODULATION OF IMMUNE RESPONSE IN MICE AGAINST LCRE PROTEIN OF CHLAMYDOPHILA PNEUMONIAE ILDIKÓ FALUDI 1, KATALIN BURIÁN 1, ÁGNES CSANÁDI 1, ANDRÁS MICZÁK 1, X. LU 2, V.V. KAKKAR 2, ÉVA GÖNCZÖL 3, VALÉRIA ENDRÉSZ 1 1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunobiology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary; 2 Thrombosis Research Institute, London, UK; 3 National Center for Epidemiology, Division of Virology, Budapest, Hungary Our aim was to evaluate in mice the immunogenicity and protective effect of C. pneumoniae (Cp) LcrE protein

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